Internal Administration Minister Rui Pereira has reaffirmed Portugal's
readiness to continue aiding East Timor with security regardless of whether the
United Nations extends its mission to Dili next year.

Minister Pereira underlined the Government's openness to continued security
aid in a ceremony marking the departure of a 125-member contingent of
paramilitary GNR police rotating into East Timor.

"The Prime Minister has shown he is receptive to the continuation [of
the GNR], but naturally a more precise evaluation must be made in February 2009
when we see whether the UN will remain and what the situation is in East Timor
for a definitive evaluation", he said.

The mandate of the UN mission, of which Portugal's GNR deployment is a part,
is set to expire next February.